Small Nations Have A Role To Play - Speech - B. P. Koirala (Policy Speech by Koirala, Prime Minister of Nepal before the 15th regular Session of the United Nations General Assembly (1960))
Mr. President, Fellow Delegates,
It is my honors and privilege to convey to you the greetings and salutations of the people and the Government of Nepal, and the best wishes of our sovereign, His Majesty King Mahindra, for the success of the Fifteenth Regular Session of the General Assemble.
Permit me, first of all, Mr. President, to congratulate you on your election to the high office of the president of this Fifteenth Session of the General Assembly. Your experience in the work of the United Nations, combined with your intrinsic merit, amply qualifies you for the post you now hold. I have no doubt that under your wise guidance this Fifteenth Session of the General Assembly will not only be able to accomplish its work, but will also achieve lasting results beneficial to the cause of pause, prosperity and the progress of mankind.
I would also like to take this opportunity to associate myself wholeheartedly with those who have already paid a tribute of welcome to the new members from Africa and elsewhere. Their admission has undoubtedly carried the United Nations very close to its cherished goal of universality and we have no doubt that our organization will greatly benefit by their contributions and participation in its deliberations.
May I also express the hope that in the international situation of today, which is singularly dominated by what might be called "Big power complex", not only among great powers but also among powers that aspire to the role of the Big Powers and in so doing developed a complex of the same kind, that the new members will bring a certain freshness of outlook on world events, and throw their weight with those forces in the United Nations which have no complex of any kind.
In welcoming the new members, I have a feeling that we are welcoming nations which have a similar approach to the basic problems of the world today. I speak on behalf of a small uncommitted country which has no pretension of any kind. When welcoming the new members, we have a consciousness accession of strength of our points of view.
Mr. President and Fellow Delegates, I must point out however that there are still many countries that are not yet members of the United Nations for some reasons or others. We hope and believe that several countries in Africa and elsewhere that are not yet free and are still under colonial domination will soon become independent and take their rightful place in this council of nations. No power, however great or strong it may be can resist the march of history and time, both of which are fortunately and definitely on the side of the countries that are struggling for their birthright of freedom and independence.
There is another category of countries that are not members of this organization for altogether different reasons. I have in mind the countries like Germany, Korea and Vietnam, Which remain artificially divided as a result of circumstances or conditions of power politics obtaining at the end of World War. We hope and pray for improvement in the climate of international relations and power politics so that these divided nations might achieve unity in free dome and take their seats among us.
In this connection, Mr. President, I cannot help referring to the question of the representation of China, which stands in a class by itself. In our opinion, the United Nations can neither become universal nor can it reflect the political realities existing in the world outside until the People's Republic of China is given its rightful place in our organization. The United Nations will not be able to fulfill effectively some of its most important purposes and functions until the People's Republic of China is brought in. The United Nations Charter speaks of the peoples of the United Nations, and it cannot be fully representative of the peoples of the world when 630,000,000 people have been deprived of the beneficent and constructive influences of the various activities of the United Nations. In questions like this that are vital to the effectiveness and growth of the United Nationals itself, I feel that greater imagination and foresight are needed than the United Nations has thus far shown. We also feel that the Republic of Mongolia to has a rightful claim to membership of this organization.
It may not be necessary for me to repeat that we that we have always stood for Algerian independence. When the President of France made a solemn declaration last year, we had hoped that the new French policy would lead to Algerian self-determination and to the solution of the Algerian question once for all. But looking back over the progress of the past year, we find that the constructive move initiated by the President of France was not carried to its logical conclusion, certainly not because of the Algerian failure to respond but because of the unrealistic conditions with which the French sought to hedge around the original offer of negotiations on the basis of self-determination.
With regard to the Middle East situation, Mr. President, we are of the view that solution of the problem confronting the Middle East lies in the direction of recognizing and accepting the political realities that prevail there today. In other worlds, prospects of peace in this area, as well as in the world in general, would be devised to end the Arab-Israeli conflict.
The drafters of the Charter hoped that the Great Powers would continue to move ahead and strengthen the United Nations with a sufficient measure of unanimity, but this hope has not always been realized and serious deadlocks have arisen between the contending power blocs on many international issues of peace and security. Under the impact of such new demands, the functions of the \united Nations have undergone some transformation, and the role of the General Assembly has acquired a new dimension. As was proved by the part it played in resolving the crises in Egypt and Lebanon. Nowhere is this fact more clearly evident today than in the affairs of the Congo Republic, where the United Nations has taken itself the responsibility of restoring order in an otherwise chaotic situation.
For the past two months, Mr. President, the United Nations Security Council was seized with the affairs of the Republic of Congo, which is still suffering the birth pang of independence. We have nothing but sympathy for the people of Congo who find themselves in a state of political and economic chaos caused by a complete breakdown of the administrative machinery of every kind. We feel that the greatest help the United Nations can and should render to the Congo is in the field of the restoration of normal economic and political life by providing for dependable administrative machinery. Unfortunately the humanitarian question of helping the people of Congo to resume their normal life and economic activity has got mixed-up with political questions of a national and international character. Even the role and the activity of the United Nations in the Congo has been subjected to controversy and bitter attack from certain quarters. As my Government has already expounded its stand on the Congolese question in the Fourth Emergency Special Session of the General Assembly, I shall, for the present, be content merely with briefly outlining the consideration that have influenced our approach to the Congo problem.
These considerations are: - (1) The territorial integrity and the political independence of the Congo should be preserved (2) Every assistance to the Congo of a military nature should be channeled through the United Nations agency. This is the only way in which the Congo can kept out of the cold war and the ramifications of power rivalries so as to enable the Congolese in accordance with their wishes and without external pressure of any kind, (3) Financial assistance should be raised from the voluntary contributions of members and placed under United Nations control for helping the Congolese people back on their feet.
African Statesmen and leaders who are assembled here in this session could play a constructive role in helping the Congo if they would only direct their efforts towards devising a method by which internal difference between the Congolese leaders could be resolved. What the African leaders should bear in mind at this critical juncture is that regionalism, or even nationalism in this context, must not be carried to the extreme so as to imply complete exclusiveness of others.
Recently, there has been an attack on the person and office of the Secretary-General. It has been said that the Secretary-General has acted in the Congo situation as an instrument of the policy of a certain power bloc or power bloc in the Congo. We ourselves do not have any part of this criticism, and we reject it altogether for the reasons my delegation advanced while speaking on the subject during Emergency Special Session, and which are on record. As to the suggestion of turning the office of the Secretary-General into a triumvirate, this to my mind, will not only incapacitate the United Nations for quick and effective action in the face of grave crises, but it also hinder it in discharge of its normal functions and duties. The Secretary-General is not merely a highly-placed official in the United Nations; but he is also an organ of the United Nations in terms of the Charter.
It is really heartening to hear the spokesmen of African countries themselves, in addition to others, defend with zeal and vigor the impartiality and dedication shown by the Secretary-General in implementing the United Nations decisions in the Congo. I would like to take to take this opportunity, Mr. President to pay a special tribute to the Secretary-General for raising the stature of the United Nations during his term of office to such a high level as to make the United Nations the only alternative to the filling up of the vacuum by one or the other of the two great power blocs in the situation such as the one in the Congo.
The primary objective of the foreign policy of every country is to secure its own political independence, sovereignty and security, and to promote international peace and co-operation. Mr. President, the foreign policy of Nepal is fully inspired by the principals and purpose of the United Nations Charter. We regard the United Nations not only as a bulwark of our independence and security, but also as the protector of our rights and freedom. We look upon the United Nations as an instrument for promoting peace and justice among nations. It is our firm conviction that an enduring peace and a stable world order can only be achieved on the basis of freedom and justice. To this end we wish to co-operate with other nations within the framework of the United Nations.
Nepal is a small country in terms of economic and military resources and strength, but she is fully conscious of her responsibility and the role she has to pay in the deliberations of the United Nations as one of its members. Our role in the United Nations will always be governed by the principles and considerations we have outlined above. We believe in the independent exercise of our judgment in considering international issues.
If we believe in a policy of non-alignment with any one of the power blocs, it is because we do not wish to commit ourselves before hand to support one side or the other, and we wish to retain our independence of judgment in assessing international issues as they arise. In our humble opinion, this is the only way in which we can really be objective and detached in the examination of the issues that may confront the world community from time to time. We have never hesitated to pronounce ourselves clearly and unequivocally on what has appeared to be right to us. Our refusal to align ourselves with one power bloc or the other does not stem from any desire on our part to sit on the fence and shirk our responsibility in judging the issues as members of the international community. There is nothing passive or immoral about this attitude of ours. If we have hesitated to take a clear stand, it has only been when the choices themselves were not very clear. However, it will be realized that the choices in this respect do not always offer themselves in terms of clear block or white.
Mr. President, we have judged every international issue on its merit without consideration of any body's fear or favor. Our stand on this Suez and Hungarian crises and on the situations in Lebanon and the Congo bear testimony to the above fact. We have consistently and conscientiously adhered to this policy in the United Nations because we think that this is the only way in which a country like ours can make a useful contribution to the work of the United Nations. We are perhaps less hindered in the exercise of our judgment because we have no disputes and far fewer commitments as compared to other bigger member states. This is not to claim any kind of superiority for our judgment, but merely to give an indication of our desire and efforts for being impartial and constructive in our participation in the work of the United Nations.
We are also conscious of the fact that as a small country we can but ply a limited role in the great and grave issues that confront the world organization today, issues such as those of cold war and disarmament. In this respect, we feel that we can play a constructive role for peace and the reduction of tensions in the world only by acting in concert with other like-minded countries within the United Nations itself.
The smaller nations, it is being said, are acquiring a new voice in world affairs. Certainly in this Assembly, where each of us has a vote that is equal to that of a great power, our role and our responsibility have acquired a significance with our precedent in human history. The great question before us now is how we shall fulfill that role. Are we going to be pulled in this direction or that, or are we going to stand on our own feet? Are we going to attach ourselves to one or another power, bloc in an already deeply and dangerously divided world, or are we going to from our own judgment? Shall we be guided by expediency in an atmosphere of intrigue, or by the true aspirations of our own peoples, our own reasoning and our own sense of justice?
Mr. President, I for one, believes that we should say frankly and openly what is in our hearts, without fear or favors. My country is fiercely proud of its independence, which we have never wholly lost. Ten years ago we shook off the internal bondage of feudal autocratic regime. A year and a half ago we held our first national election and as a free people we are now moving ahead on a new road of reconstruction and new development. While we welcome and we are grateful for the help that is being given to us by friendly governments of India, the United States, China, the USSR, the United Kingdom and others as well as by this world organization, we do not want any other country to tell us how we would think, or how we would conduct our internal affairs. We would be happier if the aid which we receive were channeled very largely, if not entirely, through the United Nations, which has scrupulously refrained from any interference whatsoever in our domestic political concerns. Like other countries now represented here, we prefer to estimate ourselves the strengths and weaknesses of other social systems and to choose our own. We do not wish to be battered by propaganda or to have our minds made up for us, or to reach our decisions in an atmosphere of suspicion and hatred. We do not want to be absorbed into the cold war, or to become a tool of any power bloc. This is not only because, if a hot war should occur, we would prefer not to be embroiled in it. There is another and, I believe, a deeper reason. We would like to join with other peoples that feel as we do, that the smaller nations who follow a truly independent course can become a force for peace in the world.
The United Nations is composed of many small nations. These small nations can, if they like, play a very responsible and very positive role in the world of today. For this, however more negative reactions to the cold war strategy of the big powers are not enough. We should cultivate the habit of developing a positive and constructive response to each political and economic question of the world which is divided politically and economically in different ways.
The main function of the United Nations at the present moment is the creation is the creation or re-creation of climate of confidence and trust. When we met here last year we were looking up with great hope and expectation to the summit conference of the Great Powers. But the summit meeting, which the statesmen of the world had planned and built up so very painfully, ended abruptly in a fiasco, landing us once more in a world of mistrust and suspicion. As a result of this failure of the summit meeting the world, including our own part, has been required to exercise a larger measure of vigilance than would have been necessary otherwise.
While the failure of the summit conference disappoints us, the new attempt made by the statesmen of the world to come together at the United Nations during the current session of the General Assembly fills us with some hope.
As the world gets smaller, owing to the revolution in modern technology, the need for the statesmen and leaders of the world to meet and face each other around a table to discuss outstanding issues between them becomes all the more imperative. It may be hoped that all the possibilities and opportunities presented by the gathering of so many heads of governments here at the United Nations Headquarters will be fully exploited in the interest of world peace without unnecessary prejudice and without any false notion of prestige. In my opinion, Mr. President, this is a unique opportunity for making serious attempts to resolve differences, an opportunity which is not likely to present itself again in the near future. I take this opportunity to endorse wholeheartedly the proposal made on the floor or the House by President Nasser for an immediate meeting between President Eisenhower and Chairman Khrushchev and an effort to ease the tension.
Small nations can play a very constructive role in this circumstance whether they actually do so remains to be seen. It is no easy task. Despite all of our differences in history, language, tradition and culture, we are suddenly faced with a new, imperative need for some measure of unity. Unless we find that unity our strength will be scattered and wasted.
How can we achieve such a measure of unity? I myself do not think that we shall find it on the basis of geography or race, or of any ideology of the right or left, but in our common adherence to the principles of this organization, including the equal rights of nations large and small, and in a common determination that our growing influence shall be used with a cool head not to widen but to narrow, the dangerous division that now exists between the two great power blocs of the East and the West. Our physical strength may be negligible, but our moral strength, if we are true to ourselves and to the peoples for whom we speak, may be great.
Whether we wish it or not, we are called upon to participate in confronting the issues before this momentous session of the General Assembly. There is also Mr. President and Fellow Delegates, the over-riding issues of disarmament. We have set forth our views on this question on different occasions. We are of the opinion that general and complete disarmament with effective controls should be possible between the two groups of powers. The tragic record of past negotiations has not been alleviated by what we have heard during the opening days of this Assembly session. It there anything new which we of the uncommitted nations can contribute to the solution of this vast problem in which we have had so little voice but so large stake? I believe that there is. All are agreed that a continuation of the accelerating fantastic armaments race is suicidal. Yet any basis of agreement between the power blocs, riveted into their hostile positions, seems as distant as ever. Cert anile the effort to reach some agreement should be continued through any means that this Assembly can devise. But I believe that there is also another approach which is in the interest of all parties, and which has not yet been given the attention that it deserves. It is that progressive disarmament should be linked with the creation and development of a world police force or peace force a force accountable to all humanity, which will gradually become more powerful than any national power or coalition of powers, a force whose one and only task will be to preserve world peace against infringement by any nation, great or small.
Mr. President Fellow Delegates, I come now to the question of the organization of the United Nations itself. On this issue we of the uncommitted smaller nations must have our own opinions. On this our votes will count. We cannot afford to allow this agency to become in itself football between the power blocs. In the opining of my delegation, the United Nations must be strengthened to include, among other things a world police force or security agency, and vastly expanded programme for the administration of economic aid, without any semblance of political interference, to the three-quarters of the world in which poverty is a rising danger to the peace and prosperity of all.
The political and military confronting the world is extremely challenging. They are very complicated problems involving the basic beliefs and values of life obtaining in either part of the world. My country has adopted the liberal values of life to be preserved by the will of the people expressed through free elections. But the political aspirations along however strong and genuine cannot work in a vacuum. For this reason we would like the United Nations to turn it's ate nation increasingly toward the solutions of the pressing economic problems in various regions. As we look at the world, we find that it is the economic disparity between countries, as between the rich and the poor people within the nations that is the source of much friction and tension. Is it necessary for some people as for some nations to continue to be poor in order that other people, as other nations can continue to be rich? Does the starvation of a part of humanity always stare us in the face? It is our humble opinion that owing to the revolutionary advances in technology and its extremely rapid rate of growth, it is possible, with concerted effort, to raise the living standards of the people of under-developed countries without lowering the standard of living of the people of the advanced countries. Is it too much to hope that the United Nations will pool together all the human material and technological resources available at present and use them most effectively to raise the living standards of the peoples of the underdeveloped countries?
President Eisenhower pleaded eloquently for the diversion of resources to these constructive ends. Disarmament, if it materializes, will release a cast amount of material and technical resources for such constructive purposes. Mr. Krushchev too, while stressing the need for disarmament has suggested that disarmament will mean a diversion of the vast fund of money and skill towards overcoming the backwardness of underdeveloped countries.
This, we believe, is a much more serious and constructive challenge than the political challenge, and we hope that in the years to come the United Nations will have to credit many economic achievements in different parts of the world as it has political achievements today.
It follows that the real solution of the world problems, including the problem of world peace and prosperity, lies in the direction of strengthening and extending the authority of the United Nations. This authority will be strengthen and fortified if the decision of the United Nations are respected faithfully and loyally by all power, big and small. In the implementation of these decisions, we should be true only to the spirit of man, irrespective of his race, region, and nation. His Majesty's Government of Nepal would like the United Nations to develop along these lines, and will support policies which it thinks will promote these objectives.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Citation: B. P. Koirala, "Small Nations Have A role To Play", (Speech) in Sushil Koirala (ed.), (Speech) in Sushil Koirala (ed.), Democracy Indispensable for Development 79-91, (Varanasi: Sandaju Publications, 1982)
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